Blue Ridge Parkway

Photos along the 469-mile length of the Parkway by milepost, from MP 0 at Rockfish Valley in VA, to the Smokies in NC; the VA-NC state line is at MP 216.9 -- here, between Puckett Cabin (189.9) and Fox Hunter's Paradise (218.6).

Abbott Lake & Peaks of Otter Lodge

Peaks of Otter, Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 86. The "Peaks of Otter" are Flat Top (3,973 feet), Sharp Top (3,862 feet), and Harkening Hill (3,353 feet). For each, heights vary among sources by 20-30; those given are from peakery.com. Some sources omit Harkening Hill from the peaks giving the area its name, but a 1993 NPS publication quotes Stanley Abbott (first Parkway superintendent and landscape architect who designed the Parkway) referring to “the triangle of mountains” at Peaks of Otter, and the basin formed by the three — the basin dammed to create Abbott Lake in 1964. (The peakery.com topographical maps shows Abbott Lake to be at 2,494 feet.) Peaks of Otter Lodge (also dating from 1964) has 60 motel-style rooms in three connected buildings on the north side of the lake; a fourth building several hundred feet away houses office, restaurant, gift shop, meeting space, and three handicap-access lodging rooms.